An Iranian butcher cuts a chicken on July 24, 2012 outside his shop in Tehran (photo: AFP /ATTA KENARE)

In the face of soaring food prices, top Iranian officials are looking to offset damage done. To this end, an idea has been floated to ban images of people eating chicken on television.

National Police Chief Esma’il Ahmadi Moghadam suggested that images of chicken should be banned from state television, fearing that they may provoke attacks on affluent Iranians by the underprivileged, reported the Mehr News Agency.

“Films are now the window to society, and some of those witnessing the class gap may say: ‘We will take our knives and take our rights from the rich,'” said Moghadam, who is also the brother-in-law of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The logic behind the idea is not as totalitarian as it may seem. Since chicken is not completely out of the reach of the average citizen, it is only the poor that suffer.

The reason that chicken has jumped from under $ 2 to over $ 5 per kilogramme is the fact that the United States and European Union have spearheaded sanctions against Iran’s vital oil industry in response to its refusal to stop uranium enrichment.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini said Wednesday that he is confident Iran can beat the sanctions. He claimed that while Iran has offered the US concessions in the past, the US has been unwilling to let Iran continue with its “peaceful nuclear programme.”

“They (the West) explicitly say they need to increase pressures, tighten sanctions to force Iranian authorities to reconsider their calculations,” Khamenei said in comments broadcast on state television. “But a look at the facts leads us not only to avoid reconsidering our calculations, but to move on our intended path with greater confidence.”